The present invention relates to a ceiling-concealment type air conditioning apparatus installed at the indoor side of a room. More particularly, it relates to construction of such an apparatus for facilitating work for maintenance of the same.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a conventional ceiling-concealment type air conditioning apparatus.
In FIG. 1, a reference numeral 1 designates a main body of a ceiling-concealment type air conditioning apparatus.
A numeral 20 designates a heat exchanger, a numeral 9 designates a box for auxiliary parts, a numeral 12a designates an air blower, a numeral 12 designates a motor for the air blower, a numeral 18 designates an air filter for preventing clogging of the heat exchanger 20, a numeral 38 designates a drain pan for receiving drops of water condensed on the heat exchanger 20 and the air conditioning apparatus main body 1, a numeral 41 designates a blowing duct for feeding cooling or warming wind at a suitable position in a room, a numeral 43 designates a ceiling, a numeral 46 designates a casing for the air blower, and a numeral 45 designates an inspection hole through which the ceiling-concealment type air conditioning apparatus installed in the ceiling 43 can be inspected.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the servicing for the conventional air conditioning apparatus and FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing the conventional ceiling-concealment type air conditioning apparatus with an intake duct installed on the ceiling. In FIG. 3, an air intake grill 47 is formed in the ceiling 43 to suck air in the room into the air conditioning apparatus through an intake duct 48.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing how the conventional ceiling-concealment type air conditioning apparatus is installed on the ceiling, wherein a reference numeral 44 designate discharge ports for blowing out the cooling or warming wind into the room.
The operation of the conventional air conditioning apparatus will be described.
In FIG. 1, air to be heat-exchanged is sucked from the rear part of the ceiling-concealment type air conditioning apparatus 1 through the air filter 18. The air is heat-exchanged while it is passed through the heat exchanger 20 to become cooling or warming air. The cooling or warming air is supplied to the inside of the room through the discharge duct 41 by means of the air blower 12a comprising the motor 12 and blades (not shown).
In the conventional air conditioning apparatus, services on parts to be put in the box 9 is carried out through the inspection hole 45 formed in the ceiling 43, the inspection hole 45 being formed near the air conditioning apparatus. When service on the motor 12 of the air blower, drain pan 38 and so on is carried out, a worker has to enter in the ceiling as shown in Figure 2.
In FIG. 3, air to be heat-exchanged is sucked into the ceiling-concealment type air conditioning apparatus 1 through the air intake grill 47 formed in the ceiling 43 through the intake duct 48, and is fed through the discharge duct 41 as in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1. The air is finally blown in the room through a single or a plurality of discharge ports 44 to perform air-conditioning.
Although the conventional ceiling-concealment type air conditioning apparatus has an advantage of providing good air flow distribution in the room because the discharge ports 44 are provided apart from the air intake grill 47 as shown in FIG. 4, there is inconvenience that maintenance for the motor 12 for the blower, blades is carried out from a side surface of the air conditioning apparatus 1 but not from the lower surface because the space of the inner side of the ceiling is generally narrow. Accordingly, a worker has to enter in the inner side of the ceiling for maintenance of the apparatus. The maintenance work done in the ceiling is very difficult because the inside of the ceiling is dark; there are many obstacles such as beams, wiring, piping, ducts and so on, and the construction of the ceiling is not so strong, so that the worker is in an unstable condition.
Further, when an intake duct is to be provided at the room side, an intake duct 48 has to be individually designed in accordance with a positional relation between the air intake grill 47 formed in the ceiling 43 and the air conditioning apparatus 1.